Religion

/

Health

Robin Buckson/The Detroit News/TNS

Ukrainian Catholics pack Michigan church to celebrate Easter as war continues back home

Religion / Religious News /

Nearly a thousand parishioners with ties to Ukraine gathered at a church in Hamtramck, Michigan, for services on Easter Sunday, celebrating the day Jesus rose from the dead while worrying about the war ravaging their home country.

The 9:30 a.m. Easter Mass at the Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church, which was conducted entirely in ...Read more

Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

JD Vance, Pope Francis met at Vatican on Easter Sunday

Religion / Religious News /

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Pope Francis met at the Vatican on Easter Sunday, shortly before the pontiff delivered a sermon urging political leaders to support vulnerable populations.

The meeting, announced by Vance’s office, marked the first between a U.S. vice president and the pope since 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first ...Read more

Vatican reports exchange of views with Vance about migration

Religion / Religious News /

JD Vance met with the Vatican’s second highest-ranking official during his visit to Rome, a meeting that took the U.S. vice president to the governing body of his own faith amid tension with the U.S. over immigration policy.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher spoke privately with ...Read more

Jordan Lawrence/The State/TNS

SC churches go to Supreme Court to try to break away from denomination

Religion / Religious News /

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Multiple South Carolina churches are taking their parent denomination to the S.C. Supreme Court to try to get out from under its jurisdiction and keep their church holdings intact.

The lawsuit was filed this week by the Methodist Church of Simpsonville, with its pastor and chair of the church council named as individual ...Read more

Afraid of church: Some immigrant faithful stay away on Sunday

Religion / Religious News /

ATLANTA — In late January, just after President Donald Trump was sworn into office for his second term, a Honduran father of three was apprehended by immigration officials outside the entrance of his church in Tucker, Georgia.

Wilson Velásquez’s arrest heralded a period of intensified immigration enforcement under the Trump administration...Read more

Atlanta church trafficked ministry students, lawsuit alleges

Religion / Religious News /

ATLANTA — A woman alleging she was trafficked by Atlanta Dream Center Church and Assemblies of God as a ministry student has sued them in Georgia, claiming they profit off the forced labor of vulnerable Pentecostal youth they house in deplorable conditions.

The woman, identified in the lawsuit as K.D., said she escaped the Atlanta church in ...Read more

Pastor hid sexual abuse for years as churchgoer preyed on girls, Okla. lawsuit says

Religion / Religious News /

Four women learned they were sexually assaulted by the same member of an Oklahoma church, but their reports to the pastor never made it to authorities, according to a lawsuit.

Charles Sulivant, a 92-year-old and former member of Shawnee First Church of the Nazarene, was charged in October 2024 with lewd and indecent acts to a child, but the ...Read more

Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS

A federal judge won't block ICE from entering Jewish and Christian congregations. How is that different from an earlier ruling?

Religion / Religious News /

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge denied Friday a request by 27 organizations representing Christian and Jewish denominations to block a policy from President Donald Trump’s administration that allows for immigration enforcement agents to enter houses of worship without a warrant.

The ruling comes less than two months after a different federal...Read more

Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS

For Passover, this group prepares Seder meals for the most vulnerable

Religion / Religious News /

MIAMI -- For many South Florida Jews, Passover is a holiday marked by spending time with family and friends, observing long held traditions and of course, eating festive food. As many sit down to their Seder meals Saturday night, one Broward organization is remembering those who struggle to put food on the table.

The Dorit & Ben J. Genet ...Read more

Win McNamee/Getty Images North America/TNS

Should states fund religious charter schools? What Americans said in new poll

Religion / Religious News /

A majority of Americans said they don’t think states should be required to provide funding for religious charter schools, according to a new poll.

Fifty-seven percent of U.S. adults said states can refuse to fund religious charter schools, while 43% said states are required to do so, according to a poll published this week by Marquette Law ...Read more

Megan Varner/Getty Images North America/TNS

After a decade of debate, Georgia now has a 'religious liberty' law

Religion / Religious News /

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp signed a “religious liberty” measure Friday, resolving a decade-long debate over a divisive measure that supporters say protects faith-based beliefs from government overreach and critics decry as a license to discriminate.

The Republican inked the bill at a brief signing ceremony at the state Capitol as lawmakers...Read more

Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Philly clergy build an altar outside of ICE headquarters, demanding return of church protection from immigration arrests

Religion / Religious News /

PHILADELPHIA — Clergy from across Philadelphia erected an altar in front of ICE headquarters on Thursday, decorating it with fruit, flowers and crosses in a prayerful protest against the Trump administration’s decision to let agents make immigration arrests in churches.

The demonstration spilled off the sidewalk and onto Eighth Street in ...Read more

Megan Varner/Getty Images North America/TNS

Republicans push divisive 'religious liberty' bill through Georgia Legislature

Religion / Religious News /

ATLANTA — After a decade of fierce debate, Georgia approved one of the most divisive bills in recent state history by passing a “religious liberty” measure that supporters say protects faith-based beliefs from government overreach and critics decry as a license to discriminate.

Republicans muscled the initiative through the Georgia House ...Read more

Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Va. General Assembly grounded to halt in apparent conflict over judicial nominee's religion

Religion / Religious News /

RICHMOND, Va. — The General Assembly started about two hours late at its reconvened session Wednesday because of an apparent discord over a judicial nomination for a Virginia Beach court.

The drama started when the confirmations, expected to be passed in both chambers quickly, ground to a halt, apparently over conflict surrounding Aaron Kass,...Read more

Los Angeles Times/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Majorities across most faith groups in poll say abortion should be legal -- except these 4

Religion / Religious News /

A majority of people in most religious traditions support abortion being legal in the U.S., as do most Americans, a new poll found.

However, four major religious groups — Hispanic Protestants, Latter-day Saints, white evangelical Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses — for the most part believe abortion should be illegal, according to an ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Commentary: Finding common ground in America's religious realignment

Religion / Religious News /

In a moment defined by fracture and division, a surprising development has emerged in America's religious landscape. The decades-long decline of Christianity is leveling off.

According to new research from the Pew Research Center, the share of Americans identifying as Christian has stabilized at around 62% — a dramatic shift from previous ...Read more

Emily Curiel/ecuriel@kcstar.com/Kansas City Star/Emily Curiel/ecuriel@kcstar.com

Satanist leader arrested after physical clash inside Kansas Statehouse during Black Mass

Religion / Religious News /

A physical altercation inside the Kansas Statehouse on Friday ended with Capitol Police arresting Satanic church leader Michael Stewart, capping off a morning of inflammatory religious demonstration.

Stewart punched a man who repeatedly attempted to rip a booklet out of his hands while he called out to Satan from the Capitol’s first-floor ...Read more

Church director accused of raping minor over years is arrested during Mass, Ohio police say

Religion / Religious News /

A director of worship who worked at two Ohio Catholic churches was arrested during Mass and charged with sexually abusing a minor, according to officials.

Andres Andino, 59, had outstanding warrants when his license plate showed up on Avon Lake Police’s camera system March 16, the Chronicle Telegram reported. Police arrested him outside one ...Read more

Emily Curiel/The Kansas City Star/TNS

Survivors of abuse at International House of Prayer-Kansas City push for Missouri lawmakers to make this change

Religion / Religious News /

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One by one, the speakers walked up to the small table early Wednesday, then sat and faced the panel of lawmakers in front of them.

Several came from across the country — Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas. For some, it was their first time in the Missouri Capitol building.

They came to testify in support of two ...Read more

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS

As Lent and Ramadan coincide this year, Christians and Muslims explain why they fast

Religion / Religious News /

CHICAGO — In many Catholic parishes, people are gathering for Friday night fish fries because they abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent. In Muslim homes, people are gathering every evening for iftar dinners to break their sunrise-to-sunset fast from all food and drink, including water, during the holy month of Ramadan.

Lent, the 40...Read more